The Mess We Made
by niffizzle
Summary: Years after his and Hermione's break up, Draco is in town for his semi-annual visit. One brunch and more than a few mimosas later, he, Hermione, and Harry are back in Harry and Ginny's flat where some drunken decisions (both good and not so good) are made.


After one fated drunken Tumblr post and months of peer pressure, I finally caved and wrote this story for the lovely LightofEvolution.

Enjoy xx

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Hermione flung her arm over Draco's shoulder for support as they both stumbled over a piece of pavement on their way back from brunch. This wasn't how she originally expected her Sunday afternoon to go, but Draco only came into town twice a year nowadays, so she had let him convince her to spend the day with him and Harry. And despite her insistence that she really didn't need bottomless mimosas, Draco insisted harder, reasoning that even if she drank only two, the cost was near equivalent, and besides, it was all on Draco's tab anyway, so what's the harm?

She lost count after five.

"How is it that I'm the most sober out of the three of us?" Harry cried out from behind, running to catch up with them.

" _Psh_ ," Hermione dismissed, flailing her hand carelessly as if trying to swat away his comment. "I'm not that drunk."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah, and I'm the Minister of Magic."

" _No_ ," Hermione corrected. "That's Kingsley!"

Harry glared at Draco. "This is your fault."

Draco scoffed, but his dismissal of Harry's accusation was lessened by Draco's tripping over an otherwise harmless twig.

"Great," Harry groaned. "I'm stuck with two drunken fools."

"If you're so clever, then why are you still sober?" Hermione asked in a sing-songy voice.

Harry slammed his palm to his forehead. "Those two ideas aren't even connected to each other," he grumbled. "And it's not like I'm sober - just not drunk enough to deal with you two."

"We're _fine_ ," claimed Hermione, even though her steps were far outside the path of a straight line. "All we have to do is take a nap and sleep this off, and we'll be perfectly sober for dinner!"

Harry let out a deep sigh. "For all of our sakes, I sure do hope so, or Ginny's going to have our heads."

They reached Harry and Ginny's flat, and Harry missed the keyhole several times before he successfully unlocked the door. For a man who had just spent the entire walk judging them, he really wasn't that much more sober than the other two. He dropped his keys in a bowl on the chest in the entry, Hermione following close behind. Draco came in stumbling after them and bumped right into the chest, knocking the bowl off its surface with a crash.

Draco glanced down at the broken shards that were scattered across the tiles. "Stupid chest," he grumbled, pulling out his wand. " _Reparo_."

The ceramic shards vibrated slightly but did not come back together.

" _Reparo!_ " he repeated with more conviction but still without success. "I said, _REPARO!_ " He swished his wand more insistently, yet the shards remained in place.

Hermione had to bite her lip to prevent a fit of laughter while Harry just shook his head.

"I think we have a new winner for who's the drunkest," he said, observing more of Malfoy's failed attempts at the Mending Charm. "Get some alcohol in you, and you can't even do a spell that Hermione mastered when she was eleven."

"Oh, shut it, Potter," Draco dismissed. "It was the chest's fault, not mine."

He swished his wand one more time, and the broken pieces finally came back together. Draco then picked up the fixed bowl and returned it safely to the table without bothering to try to use a spell for that part.

The moment they settled in the sitting room, Hermione flung herself onto the sofa facefirst and sprawled out across its entire length.

"Time for sleep," she said, adjusting her head on one of the throw pillows.

Draco groaned and massaged his temples. "My head hurts too much to even consider sleeping. Doing magic was too aggressive of a choice."

"You two are a mess," Harry said, taking a seat in the armchair. "Why don't you go take a cold shower or something, Malfoy? We left you a towel on the bed."

Draco rubbed his temples. "Maybe that will help. And then I'm coming back here and chugging six glasses of water."

Hermione closed her eyes and zoned out the rest of their conversation, but Draco must have decided to take Harry's suggestion, having heard what she assumed to be the guest bedroom door closing. She took in a deep breath and just enjoyed the feel of the pillow. It was such a nice pillow. So soft and comfy. Just perfect for a mid-afternoon nap.

"What do you think you're doing, Hermione?" Harry asked, daring to interrupt her slumber.

"Shhhh. I'm sleeping," she said, nuzzling her head a bit deeper into the pillow.

"No, not that," Harry responded. "What do you think you're doing with Draco?"

"Nothing," she mumbled, her eyelids too heavy to open.

"C'mon, Hermione," Harry interrupted, sounding a bit exasperated. "You two broke up."

Hermione released an over-dramatic sigh and reluctantly pried her eyes open. "Did we? I had _no_ idea."

"Well, you sure don't act like you know!" Harry quickly snapped back.

"It's _fine_. We're just friends." She forced herself to sit up and leaned back on the sofa, moving the pillow into her lap. Apparently, her nap wasn't going to happen just yet.

"Really now?" Harry asked, not accepting Hermione's answer. "Let's recount what happened at brunch today, shall we? First of all, you kept putting your hand on his shoulder whenever you laughed at something he said."

"His stories were funny!"

"And you were overly complimentary about his work."

"He's been really successful lately!"

"And then when we left, you two went ahead without me, and if I had just stayed behind, which I did consider, by the way, you probably wouldn't have noticed I wasn't with you until you reached the door and didn't have a key!"

"We were having a good conversation!"

Harry gripped the roots of his hair. "Hermione! You're flirting with him!"

"I'm not flirting with him! I'm -"

"Hermione," Harry repeated, this time with a heavy sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose for good measure. "This is not how typical exes act."

"Well, then maybe we're not typical exes," Hermione did her best to reason, but she couldn't come up with a more substantial response provided her current state.

"That's for sure," Harry agreed. "I mean how long have you two been broken up?"

Hermione closed her eyes and tried to think. "Um… around… four or five years at this point?"

Harry raised an eyebrow. "And remind me again when you last kissed him?"

"October."

"And before that?"

What was this? A quiz on her and Draco's history? "I don't know. May of the year before?"

Harry let out a short laugh. "Congrats. You two managed to make it a whole year and a half at one point. Granted, he only came into town once or twice between those two events."

Hermione tilted her head at him, her head starting to hurt from all the unnecessary thinking. "Do you have a point, Harry, or can I take my nap?"

Harry rubbed his nose and then leaned back in the armchair. "I don't know, but dear Merlin, will you two just figure it out already, cause it's getting tiring."

Having said his piece, Harry went into the kitchen, allowing Hermione to return to her reclined position and shut her eyes once more. She loved Harry, but goodness, he didn't need to get so worked up about her and Draco's relationship status. They were broken up! Sure, they just _happened_ to kiss almost every single time he was in town, but that didn't mean anything! At this point, it was just kind of a habit. And for the record, she hadn't even kissed him this current visit!

When she and Draco tried talking about it two years ago, they had mutually agreed that they were officially _not_ dating, only to then immediately spend the night together. But again, it really didn't mean much. Even though they'd casually hook up every now and then, their relationship status never changed. And that's how they both wanted it to stay.

She adjusted her position on the sofa, trying to fall asleep, but it was proving more difficult than she expected. Usually, she could easily pass out after drinking so much, but her conversation with Harry now had her mind turning, and it just would not shut up! All she could think about was Draco. Sure, she was still infinitely attracted to him - what witch wasn't? - but they had broken up for a reason. So what if they kissed every now and then? A harmless kiss wasn't bad, right?

She started to doze off, coming in and out of consciousness every few minutes, but never able to reach actual slumber. After ten or so more minutes, she heard Harry place a glass of water on the table next to her. Perhaps that's what her body needed. She sat up and took a sip.

"Thank you," she said. The cool water was definitely welcome, and she had half finished the glass before she set it down. That's when she looked around the room and noticed that Draco wasn't there. "Draco isn't out of the shower yet?"

Harry shrugged. "I assume he's still in the guest room. There's a perfectly nice bed in there for him."

Hermione scratched the back of her head. "Yeah, but didn't he say something about coming back out here for water?"

"Maybe he passed out before he got a chance, I don't know," Harry said. "But by all means, if you're so concerned, be my guest and check on him."

"You do it," Hermione said, lying back down on the sofa. "I need to sleep this off."

"I'm not doing it!" Harry retorted. "You're the one who's concerned! And besides, I'm not risking seeing the bloke naked! At least you've seen him like that before!"

"Not recently!"

"Oh, so is that where you two are drawing the line?"

Hermione yanked the pillow out from underneath her head and flung it at him. It missed, and now she was without her pillow.

"Fine," she said with a slight groan, getting to her feet. "I'll be right back."

As she made her way to the guest bedroom, Harry called after her, "Just so we're clear, this is the type of thing a girlfriend does!"

"Or just a concerned friend!" she shouted back. Seriously, Harry needed to get over this!

Hermione knocked on the guest bedroom door and waited for a response, but when she didn't get one, she pressed her ear up against the door, hoping to hear some sign of movement, but she still heard nothing. She clicked the door open and let herself inside, expecting to see Draco asleep on the bed, but the only thing there was his weekend bag. The connected bathroom door was closed, and based on the faint sound coming from within, Draco must still be in there.

Perhaps he really was just taking a long shower. Or maybe he had taken a while to get in. But he was fine, and she had nothing to worry about.

And then she noticed the water seeping out from under the door.

Hermione cautioned to the bathroom door, and the closer she got, the more she recognised the sound of running water. Only, it didn't sound exactly like a shower. She heard Draco's frustrated groan and knocked.

"Draco?" she asked. "Are you drowning in there?"

The commotion on the other side of the door continued without a response, so Hermione opened the door.

Blame it on the alcohol, but she probably should have thought that part through more.

Water came flooding out from within the bathroom, no longer blocked by the wooden barrier, and spread out across the wooden floorboards of the bedroom. And while she should have been more alarmed by the fact at her shoes were now wet, Hermione was much too focused on the sight before her, fighting hard to conceal a laugh.

An inch of water covered the tile flooring, even after so much water had escaped. In the corner, the toilet was askew and the back piping had burst open, cascading a jet stream of water that rained everywhere. And in the middle of all that was Draco, stripped down to his boxers with a frantic expression on his face as he used his robes to try to mop up the mess.

When he saw Hermione in the doorframe, his face turned to panic. "I couldn't find any more towels," he explained, motioning towards the soaking bath towel in the corner.

Hermione couldn't resist the laughter any further. She had to grip onto her sides, too amused by the helpless expression on Draco's face.

"Stop laughing."

But Hermione couldn't.

"What happened?" she managed to ask between laughs.

"Well, I didn't exactly make it into the shower," he explained. "I was feeling sick, so I tried to clear my system, but I couldn't, and then I got a bit frustrated, so…"

"So what? You kicked the toilet or something?"

Draco's cheeks flared red. "Not my smartest move, okay? But then the pipe burst, and I tried to wrap the towel around it, but the water just kept coming, and I couldn't remember the spell to make it stop."

Hermione was now in a fit of laughter with tears starting to streak out of the corner of her eyes.

"Help me," he pleaded, reaching the point of desperation.

"Harry!" Hermione called into the other room.

"What? No!" Draco protested. "If I wanted Potter to know, I would have called for him -"

Harry burst into the bedroom, his eyes immediately landing on the mess in the bathroom. "What the… What did you do, Malfoy?"

"I told you something was wrong," Hermione giggled.

"But why is the guest bathroom flooded?!"

Draco glared at Hermione, begging her not to tell him, but she did anyway. "Draco kicked it."

Draco's head fell into his hands, and he groaned while Harry glared at him.

"Was the entry hall chest not good enough for you, Malfoy? Or was this the toilet's fault as well?" He shook his head, examining the scene. "Stand up, Malfoy. I think you've gotten enough of a shower. And you two go back into the sitting room. You're too hammered to be helpful anyway."

Draco left his soaked robes on the floor and hung his head as he stepped out of the bathroom and back into the guest bedroom, Hermione still laughing.

"Glad one of us finds this enjoyable," he said, snatching a dry shirt from out of his bag.

"Oh, but I so rarely get to see this side of you anymore," she said with a taunting smile. "Every time there's a _Daily Prophet_ article about you, it only talks about Draco Malfoy the businessman, but I could tell them _stories_ about what you're like behind closed doors."

"You wouldn't dare!"

He followed her into the hall where she grabbed a dry towel out of the linen closet and tossed it in his direction.

"I don't know," she teased. "I think your investors would enjoy hearing about the time we went paddle boating and you fell into the lake."

Draco's rubbed the towel over his hair. "That's not fair!" he countered. "The waves were choppy!"

"Please!" Hermione dismissed. "I managed to stay on!"

"Only because I sacrificed myself so you could stay dry!" He patted the towel over the rest of his body, still trying to dry off. "Fine, you want to play dirty? How about that time we went to the magical creature zoo and you had to cower behind me when we saw an Erumpent?"

Hermione dropped her jaw in offence. "That was completely justifiable! Their horns are _highly_ dangerous! I watched one destroy the Lovegood house!"

Draco handed his dirty towel to Hermione who discarded in the hamper in the linen closet as Draco pulled his clean shirt on. "Don't be ridiculous. Magizoologists make sure that the habitat is completely safe for patrons!"

Now semi-dressed again, Draco followed Hermione into the kitchen where she pulled out two glasses and filled them both with water.

"How about that time we went to that gala for your work, and you didn't realise that your dress robes were on inside out until halfway through the event?" she reminded him as she handed him a glass.

Draco took a hefty chug of water and then set it down. "In my defence, they were black and looked near identical on either side. And you didn't notice either!"

A smile crept across her lips. "Oh, I knew," she confessed. "I just wanted to see how long it would take you."

" _You knew?_ " Draco said in disbelief. "Do you know how many potential deals I lost that day because no one wanted to go into business with the man who couldn't put his clothes on properly?"

Hermione shrugged. "A small price to pay for a necessary knock to your ego."

She strolled back into the sitting room, Draco closely behind her.

"I can't believe it!" he said in continued disbelief. "Well, that settles it. You were a terrible girlfriend!" he joked.

Hermione lounged onto the sofa where Draco joined her.

"Absolutely terrible," she agreed with a smile. "Nevermind all the good things about our relationship. _That's_ what ruined it for us." She paused, pretending to ponder something. "Wait, no! That wasn't it. Now I remember! It had something to do with the fact that we were _always_ fighting."

Draco laughed in agreement. " _Constantly_ bickering."

"Couldn't agree on a _single_ thing."

"What to have for dinner."

"Where to hang that horrible painting your mother got us."

"And we were always too busy for date nights."

"You always stayed late for international fire-calls."

"You were always off trying to start some new non-profit."

Hermione chuckled. "Well, at least I picked one non-profit and now it's up and functioning!"

Draco lifted a cavalier shoulder. "And now I just pay people to do the work for me."

Hermione rested her head against the back of the couch cushions and sighed. "I guess you could say we were an awful couple."

She turned her head to look at Draco, and he gave her a half smile.

"Doesn't mean I don't miss it sometimes."

Hermione snorted. "Only sometimes."

But when he looked at her, there was a softness in his features that she remembered from when they had dated. It was the same look he'd give her when she would come home ranting about everything that had gone wrong that day and he'd coach her through it, when she would consistently burn their meals and they would need to get last minute takeout instead, or when they would wake up on a Saturday morning and refuse to leave their bed for several more hours. Yeah, their relationship had been a wild ride, but when she looked back at it, there certainly were some highlights.

His fingers grazed over her thigh, and she didn't bother to push them away. Harry may object, but they weren't hurting anybody. He'd be gone tomorrow anyway, and besides, they had a tradition to uphold.

She placed her hand on his cheek and brought him in for a kiss, her lips brushing over his in a gentle pass. She pulled away from the kiss, not intending for it to go much beyond that, but Draco had other plans.

He crashed his lips back onto hers and pulled her in closer, one kiss not enough for him. And Hermione couldn't find any reason to stop. He tasted just as she had always remembered, his lips just as soft and delectable as ever. He really was a good kisser, and she supposed that was part of why she never objected.

He placed his hand around her waist and dragged Hermione on top of him, settling her over of his lap so that their angle wasn't as awkward. He pulled her in closer as his tongue slipped between her lips, and a subtle hum escaped out of her.

See? There was nothing wrong with a little kiss! It was all in good fun!

Only the kiss didn't stop there.

Draco's hand dipped under her shirt and lightly grazed her back, which would have been innocent enough, except that he was using it to guide her movements over him. He hadn't bothered to bring out clean trousers, so with each subtle push forward, her hips rolled over the thin fabric of his boxers, the stiffening of his cock blatantly obvious.

In her drunken haze, Hermione didn't think twice about it. They'd done this plenty of times before. Perhaps not recently, but it just felt natural to be back in this position with him. Think of it like… riding a bike. You might not do it for several years, but once you try again and get going, you continue as of no time had passed at all. Only instead of riding a bicycle, she was riding Draco.

Hermione draped one hand behind his neck while the other hand settled over his thigh, teasing the inner skin. Draco hummed in approval, as his own attention travelled from her back to her chest. His hand easily dipped under her bra, and Hermione knocked her head back when he passed his thumb over her nipple.

It was so easy to fall back into him.

The only issue was, they had been so caught up in their passing fling that they hadn't heard the front door open.

"Are you kidding me?" Ginny cried the moment her eyes landed on them, setting a bag of groceries down on a table. "You two know you broke up, right?"

Both of them tore away from the kiss, and Draco quickly removed his hand from under Hermione's shirt while she scrambled to return to her seat on the sofa next to him.

"Gods, you two are a mess."

Draco looked at Hermione and shrugged. "Meh. Could be worse. Although if you want to talk about real messes, you might want to check on your boyfriend in the guest bathroom."

A frantic expression flashed across Ginny's features. "What did you two do in there?" she asked accusatorily. "When I said no sleeping with Hermione in my guest bedroom, that didn't mean I was giving you permission to shag elsewhere in my flat!" She then turned on her heels and raced into the guest bathroom where Harry was still working on the toilet.

Hermione opened her mouth to speak, but Draco held up a finger for her to wait.

"Draco Malfoy, you are never staying in my flat again!" they heard Ginny shout from the other room.

Draco leaned back on the sofa, shaking his head back and forth with a pleased expression. "I deserve that," he said before turning to Hermione. "Although, on a brighter note, our semi-annual kiss was particularly nice this time around. I suppose we'll be due for another one in about six months time?"

Hermione laughed, feeling her cheeks heat up ever so little. "I guess so. That is unless one of us is dating someone else by then."

"Please," Draco said, knocking his feet up on the table. "I've ruined all other men for you."

Hermione gave him a sharp sceptical glare.

Draco chuckled. "Don't worry. You've ruined all other women for me as well." He rested his hands behind his head. "But do you ever think maybe we should… you know?"

Hermione scrunched her eyebrows together. "Do what?"

Draco shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe we should try it again."

Hermione's head jolted back, not expecting that at all. "Draco, didn't we _just_ agree we were a terrible couple?"

Draco dropped his arms and cocked his head. "Yeah, but it's been, what? Four or five years at this point? And we just said that one of our main issues was that we didn't make enough time for each other. But your non-profit is fairly established at this point. And more importantly, you can't deny that we still have _great_ chemistry."

Hermione blushed. "While I won't argue with you on that last point, I'm not the only one who didn't make time for us. So even if I did say I wanted to try this again, you still live on the other side of the country, and it's not like you bother to visit very often."

Draco looked down at his hands as he rubbed them together. "I'm actually in this process of opening a satellite branch down here. I'll be in the area for a few months while supervising its opening."

Hermione's heart stopped for a second. "When were you going to tell me?" she asked, slightly betrayed that he hadn't told her until now.

"Once the paperwork goes through," he answered simply. "But we expect to make the official announcement by the end of next week."

He sat up and grasped both of Hermione's hands. "By no means am I suggesting that we jump into this head first and pick up where we left off. Just a date or two. Test it out."

Hermione narrowed her eyes, a sneaky suspicion growing inside her. "Harry spoke with you, too, didn't he?"

Draco dropped his hold on her. "He may have brought it up last night, but it wasn't something I hadn't already been considering. I mean, think about it. We overcame so much of our past to get together in the first place, but we're letting a few minor skirmishes get in the way of us trying it again? That doesn't seem to make much sense to me."

He raised at an eyebrow, awaiting her response, and maybe it was just because she was still slightly intoxicated, but he had a point. After all, she was still infinitely attracted to him - hadn't she always been? - and they had gotten together in the first place for a reason. So what if they went out on a date once or twice? A harmless date wasn't bad, right?

"Okay," she finally answered. "You're allowed one date with me when you move back down here."

"Just one date?" he asked with a smirk.

"Maybe two. _If you're lucky._ And then we have to sit down and have a proper conversation about where we see it going!"

Draco laughed. "Deal. But I get to plan date one."

"Fine. Then I get to plan date two."

"Ah! So you _are_ saying there will be a date two!"

Hermione shoved him with the palm of her hand, but he merely laughed.

"Oh, gods," Harry lamented, drying off his hair with a fresh towel, finally having finished up in the bathroom. "Do I even want to know what you two are laughing about?"

Hermione looked at Draco and smiled. "We have mutually agreed to go on _two_ dates together sometime in the upcoming months."

Harry closed his eyes and groaned. "Well, I guess that's a start."

Draco put his hand on Hermione's knee and gave it a squeeze.

Yeah, they were a bit of a mess, but just like the toilet, with enough effort, even the biggest messes could still get fixed.

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Only one (1) toilet was harmed in the creation of this story.


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